Takeover Post by Andrew Shepard

As mentioned, we are doing a new series called Fan Takeovere, where you may takeover the blog for a day and post whatever you wish. The first person to send a takeoever post was Andrew Shepard, so here is his post:

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My hands are shaking as I type this, and I have a monster the size of a parrot on my shoulder whispering something that isn’t reassurance into my ear right now.  But I’ll talk more about him on my own platform.  Right now, I want to focus on how unbelievable it is that I’m getting this opportunity; to even associate with one of my idols like this . . . it just doesn’t feel real.  It’s like I’m living in some weird wonderland and any second the Red Queen is going to jump up and throw me back into the real world.

But I’m not, am I?  This is real.  This is fucking real!

But that’s enough ass-kissing.  I apologize for how much of an obsessive fanboy I am.  I’m not writing this just to suck up to somebody I practically worship.

This is a sort of thank-you to one of the people who helped me realize what I want to do in life.  I didn’t know I was an artist until I listened to the New Albion Trilogy and other works by our lord and savior.  It’s a little (okay, a lot) gushy to say this, but Paul, you really are the catalyst that kick-started my career as a legitimate musician.

I’ve always loved music.  I’ve got so much of it downloaded onto my tablet that I don’t even have enough space to update my pre-installed apps.  I started playing the trumpet in fifth grade and I’ve been told that when I started playing piano, it was like I had reconnected with an old friend.  But I didn’t realize that music was my life until I stumbled onto Dolls one night after talking with a fellow steampunk about steampunk music.

I wrote my first song after listening to Dolls.  Spoiler alert, it sucked, and I’ve forgotten it now.  But it was the start of an electronic album that was supposed to tell a story without the use of lyrics because I suck at lyrics.

As I got more into making music instead of just listening to it, Paul’s works stuck with me.  You’re all going to judge me for this, but I learned all of Dolls by ear and actually performed the first act as my senior project in high school.  I also check this blog religiously.  Like I said, I’m an obsessive fanboy and I’m sorry.

It was the post about The Bifrost Incident that made me realize I could actually make music career.  I’m not Freddy Mercury or Roger Waters.  I’m not even Paul Shapera or The Mechanisms, but the latter two made me realize that I didn’t have to be the former to be a musician.  I’d already written a song.  I liked telling stories through music.  And apparently that’s something more people than me do.  So, fuck it, I said at seventeen, I’m going to write a concept album and release it on Bandcamp.

So, yeah.  Thanks, Paul.  I had no direction in life and now I intend on graduating college with a liberal arts degree so I can make Jack Shit selling music.

 

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